As many of you know I continue to gather historical information on Peason and especially the old Peavy Wilson Mill plus the Christie and Eastern Railroad. Everett Leuck, a good friend and railroad and timber industry historian, notified me that the old rail line from Sandel to Peason has been scanned by lidar. You may have seen on many of the historical documentaries how things like the Mayan Cities, Cities of Phenom- pen, Roman roads and aqueducts, and other historical sites were found by lidar. Lidar is a type of radar that can “look” through the various types of terrain and can pick up items such as buildings, old roads, and in this case the old main rail line and many spur tracks and even siding areas. The Christie and Eastern Railroad was owned and operated by Peavy Wilson Lumber Company. Further investigation of this rail line will be conducted in the areas where the Christie and Eastern joined the Red River and Gulf Railroad that ran from Longleaf, La. to the mill at Kurthwood. Once these 2 rail lines were joined logs, and lumber products of all types could be shipped throughout the United States by rail. I am listing the 3 major discoveries so far that has been found and is very interesting about this rail line and the history it holds for Sabine Parish and Peason. I’m excited !! Thanks to Everett for sharing the discoveries and for allowing me to being part of the group conducting the many historical searches!! We have noticed several interesting things.
1. There were a pair of spurs off of the C&E to a gravel pit north of the railroad not far out of Sandel (Christie). I was not aware of a gravel operation on the C&E in that area so that is a surprise to me.
2. There are many, many woods spurs off of the C&E so that it must not only have acted as an outlet for the Peason mill, but also as a source of timber as well. This new lidar is the first time that I have seen any evidence of these spurs.
3. There are two railroad grades that leave the C&E grade and go directly to the base of the dam for the lake at Hodges Gardens. Since the late was built long after the railroad was gone, I wonder if the grade was re-railed to facilitate the construction of the dam in the 1940’s. Certainly, if it was built during times of fuel shortage, this might have been done but I don’t know the exact year that the dam was built. I know that Long Bell leased one of their locomotives, and got gravel from one of their pits to build parts of US 171 before the war, so I wonder how many times that the old spurs were re-used for other purposes as well. Now the lidar exploration is still a work in progress. There is much more to be investigated to the east of the Peavy Wilson Mill site toward Kurthwood in Vernon Parish. Will keep everyone posted as we strive to find more rail road, logging, Peavy Wilson, and Peason history.